How Live-In Care Works
By Leigh McDonald
On this page, I thought it would be helpful to clearly explain how the process of arranging live-in care typically works. This is based on what we feel is best practice to make it a success, from many years of experience setting up live-in care.
At McDonald Homecare, we fully understand that arranging care can be daunting and many people don’t know where to start. For those who have arranged other forms of care, live-in care might still be something new.
Here I’ll guide you step-by-step though the main points in the journey. I’ll also openly address some of the common challenges in setting up live-in care. Hopefully this gives you greater confidence in approaching arrangements for live-in care.
1 — Comprehensive Assessment
Live-In care starts with understanding the person as holistically as possible. It’s much more than just managing healthcare or personal care needs and tasks to be done around the home. Although these things are important, they tend to be the practical things that can be managed by most professional, well-trained carers.
To make live-in care work, understanding who the person is, their life, experiences, values and beliefs, interests and hobbies builds a more complete picture that is essential to live-in care.
Alongside this crucial understanding of a person, the assessment will look at an individual's physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs. This includes their medical history, current health status, functional abilities, and any existing or potential risks or challenges they may face in their home environment.
A person and their family often have specific goals for their care, which are often focused towards building and maintaining independence, and with that dignity and quality of life.
2 — Openly Address Worries And Concerns
The assessment is often a trigger point for surfacing worries or concerns from both the client and their family. Sometimes this happens during the assessment, but often afterwards when people start to reflect on the realities of the changes. This is perfectly natural and should be addressed and worked through, rather than simply ignored. In our experience, it will only resurface later and cause greater problems if care proceeds.
Common concerns include fears of losing privacy and independence. People worry that having a live-in carer around all the time will intrude on their personal space or limit their ability to make independent choices. Setting out preferences for personal space and promoting independence in the care plan is one opportunity to address this, along side open and honest conversation.
Finding the right personality match with a caregiver can be a concern. People can worry about whether they will get along with the caregiver, share similar interests, or be able to communicate effectively. Our introductory process and trial period helps to address this.
Introducing live-in care can create worries around the change in family dynamics and relationships. People can be concerned about how their family members will adapt to the new arrangement and whether their involvement in the person's care will be affected.
The emotional aspect of accepting help and acknowledging the need for care can be challenging for some people too. It’s not uncommon for a person to fight fiercely for their independence and refuse care, particularly if the worry about feeling vulnerable or becoming too reliant on their caregiver. Once again, setting out a trial period that take the emphasis of a long-term and permanent change can really help here.
3 — Introducing Carefully Matched Carers
After the assessment, we work to find the best possible match based on all the aspects of the person, their life and needs during the assessment. Once we identify suitable candidates, their profiles will be put forward to a client and their family for consideration. They next step is for the client and family, or others involved, to identify a candidate or short list. An introduction can then be made for both parties to talk and get a feel for one another.
At this stage there is no commitment from either side, but a chance to see if everyone involved feels that the match would work. After the meeting, which can range from in person, to video or phone call (depending on availability and preferences), everyone has time to consider and review if they would like to go ahead.
4 — Start A Trial Period
At this point, many agencies will ask you to sign a contract if you want to proceed. However, we feel it’s really important that there is a trial period for the client to get used to their new situation, particularly if this is a person’s first-time receiving care. It gives everyone one the chance to evaluate how things are going, without feeling burdened by a long-term commitment from the outset.
The live-in carer who joins you in your home will develop a personalised care plan tailored to your specific needs. The care plan is usually a collaborative effort, created with input from the individual receiving care, as well as family members and other healthcare professionals involved. The plan for live-in care will not only address care requirements but also your lifestyle choices, preferences, and the social and emotional support.
This holistic approach prioritises health and well-being while improving your overall quality of life in a considerate and nurturing manner.
5 — Review
At four weeks, or sooner if needed, there is an important opportunity to review how everything is going. It’s quite often the case that tweaks and adjustments need to be made to ensure everything is settled.
The care plan will naturally evolve over time with a person’s needs and wishes and any if there are changes in a condition that require adjustments to the care. With a one-to-one relationship with a live-in carer, they are able to clearly observe changes in health and wellbeing and respond appropriately, engaging family and professionals where additional support is needed.
It is usually very clear by this point if the live-in care support is working well, and a good match has been made. Assuming everything is going well, period reviews can be made, to make sure the working relationship between the carer and the client continues to flourish.
6 — Manage Carer Breaks
As part of supporting a seamless live-in care service, we can introduce you to other suitable carers to cover the breaks of your long-term carer. In other circumstances, it may be the case that we support you to recreate a rotating pattern between two carers, on an ongoing basis.
There are five key considerations when a carer moves into your home. Read our article on Practical Matters